Dear Yolanda,
It has been a while since you first came into our lives. It has been months and days specifically since your wrath has taken its toll upon our land, ripping any depth of joy in our hearts and wrecking any possible hope for months to come. I never thought that a mass of water and air could make our lives drastically change in just a snap of a hand, nor did I ever think that a measly storm could wreak havoc upon our once simple lives. Everything I have, lost within seconds since you laid your apocalyptic presence within the midst of our town. Every smile and excitement for the upcoming Yuletide season washed away with weary faces as we continually fight for survival. Now, we are just specks of dust, pawns to your will, as we are within the confines of our reconstructed homes made from our old houses, clad within clothes not ours unwary of the diseases it could inflict, starving, thirsty; not only of our physiological needs, but of faith, strength, and hope to survive the throes of life. All we wanted was happiness and peace, how could you have done this with us?
November 7, 2013: A day etched in my mind, forever to cling within my psyche.
After a decade of serving as a corporate clerk in UAE, finally I am able to return home. It has been a 10 years of missing out on my family, a 10 years of earning for tomorrow. I noticed that Cotabato hasn’t changed much, the Airport is still the same old buzz of tourists returning to their homelands, but some to visit and enjoy the ecstatic beauty of Cotabato’s diversified ecosystem and ancient churches, the streets are filled with vendors and inhabitants in all walks of life, the plains are filled with verdant crops and the air a cold breeze of the near Christmas. It has been such a long time and I miss every piece of Cotabato.
With me is a package for my family and a bag of my personal belongings, one of them is a ring for my wife. It’s ironic to think that we have had 2 children and yet we’re still not married. I guess we never have thought of it. But I plan to change it tomorrow. And all I need is to propose to her now.
Riding a tricycle, I arrived upon the gate of our home. Tears suddenly rolled from my eyes… It was so different in the pictures sent in the Internet. I never expected that it was so beautiful. The 2-storey building intricately done with futuristic ensembles embellished with hints of Filipino culture. Never did I think that it would turn out to be so beautiful. The money was worth it, the fruit of 10 years endured missing my family, 10 years of hardships from the hands of foreign people. Now, I wasn’t just crying, I was sobbing. God, it was really worth the pains I’ve endured. I’ve worked hard for this.
Wiping my tears, I rang the doorbell twice and then came my two most precious treasures in the world. I embraced them so tight, not wanting for the moment to last. They have grown so much and then I regretted never being there when they grew up. How could they have grown so much? My son was already crying and my daughter was telling me continually how she has loved and misses me. I was also sobbing, I miss them so much! Oh God, please make this moment last. Then the queen of my life, the most beautiful woman of the earth, stepped out from our house crying. She said:” I love you! I miss you so much, it’s been so long!” She hugged me so tight and showered me with kisses. It was the moment, I kneeled and said:”Let’s get married tomorrow!”She was stunned at first but then said:”Yes!” That was all I had to hear, I was in heaven already. I was so happy! I wanted that moment to last forever. I was in cloud nine!
But you had to come and destroy it. With your single touch in the midst of our province, you wiped away everything in your path. All our possessions were gone in a flick of a hand. Why did you need to come at that place and at that time? Everything was so well, how could you? Deaths, Regret, Misery: It would have been fine if it was purely monetary, or just every material you could take. But you had to take her with you.
